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Private Internet Access vs Tor Guard

To help you find the Best VPN Services, TopConsumerReviews.com provides you with an in-depth comparison of Private Internet Access and Tor Guard.

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What's the best VPN Service? VPN stands for Virtual Private Network. It does just what it says. It creates a virtual (as opposed to physical) private network for you by encrypting (or scrambling) each and every piece of data that goes from your computer out onto the Internet as well as any data that comes back to you from the Internet.

So, who needs a VPN? If you're concerned about the rising problem of "hackers" - people who infiltrate computers and networks to steal or misuse information - you should be looking at a VPN service. Or, if you think your Internet Service Provider (ISP) may log, monitor, or analyze what you do online, a VPN is for you.

VPN Service Reviews

If you're looking for private internet connections at the lowest price, give Private Internet Access a try. Out of all the independent VPN systems we've reviewed, theirs is the lowest at $2.91 per month billed every two years, $3.33 per month billed yearly, or $6.95 billed monthly. No matter how you slice your payments, you're coming out ahead of the other services on costs.

Private Internet Access has an impressive array of recognizable logos on their website intended to give credibility to their service, through comprehensive reviews and their sponsorships of electronic freedom-oriented organizations, as the one that the majority of consumers might prefer. Their one-minute intro video is decidedly non-technical in providing an overview of what it is and how it works, which indicates
that they are marketing to the non-technical user.

Like other VPN services, Private Internet Access provides the ability to browse anonymously with a cloaked IP address over any WIFI hotspot, unblocking of censorship filters, and easy setup. They have over 3,000 servers in over 44 locations across almost 30 countries.

Private Internet Access has PPTP, OpenVPN, and L2TP/IPSec. The service blocks ads, trackers, malware and doesn't keep logs of your activities. It has multiple VPN gateways and unlimited bandwidth. However, it is limited to 5 simultaneous connections, but it does support Windows, OS X, Linux, Android, and iOS.

Private Internet Access also can be installed as a Google Chrome browser extension. There are setup video guides and each of the platform options has an easy setup guide for alternate (advanced) configurations if necessary, such as router, SOCKS5 proxies, port forwarding, and regional gateways.

Support for Private Internet Access is 24/7 but only by virtue of the fact that it seems just to be accessible through online support articles, FAQs, email ticketing, and social media channels.

Happy Private Internet Access users write that they are satisfied with the low cost, fast download speeds, no logging, strong encryption, good torrent support, and longevity of the service compared to others. People who didn't feel as satisfied said they didn't like the fact that there's no live chat (email only), the fact that it's located in the US (a privacy problem for people outside the US), and that it doesn't
work with Netflix.

Even though Private Internet Access has a shorter money-back guarantee, for the low price you pay even monthly you can walk away without much damage to your bank account. And, with the good service you get as described by positive reviewers, we can recommend it as a great VPN service.

TorGuard is another VPN service that is geared towards the more technical users of VPNs. With over 3,000 servers in more than 55 countries, they are able to hide your connection's activities from any hackers, governments, or countries trying to get a taste of what you're into online.

Their service is divided into three categories: Anonymous Proxy, Anonymous VPN, and Anonymous Email.

Anonymous Proxy gives you the ability to anonymize your IP address, access otherwise blocked websites, and download anything anonymously. All their plans provide unlimited speeds and bandwidth and full access to all capabilities. The only difference is in how often you're billed.

With the anonymous email service, you get between 10mb (on their free plan) and unlimited amounts of offshore, encrypted, ad-less email storage (on the paid plans). Even with the free plan, you get the same technology benefits as the paid plans which, again, differ only by how often you're billed.

All Anonymous VPN plans have the same features, differing by how often you pay, including unlimited speed/bandwidth, multiple encryption ciphers, and multiple SSL VPN types such as OpenConnect, AnyConnect, and Stunnel.

These services can be purchased as standalone subscriptions. Proxy and VPN services (but not email) are combined into bundles that you can buy monthly, or, to save money, purchase quarterly or annually. The Anonymous Proxy Plan is $5.95 monthly, the Anonymous VPN plan is $9.99 monthly, and the Anonymous Email plan is $6.95 monthly. The Quarterly Bundle is $20.97 billed every three months, the Monthly Bundle is $11.54
billed monthly, and the Annual Bundle is $64.00 billed yearly. If you're unsure which one to go with, try one and if you don't like it, cancel it within 7 days for your money back.

If payment source to buy TorGuard's services is a concern for you, TorGuard has over 80 payment options to choose from.

TorGuard is limited to 5 simultaneous connections but it does support Windows, OS X, Linux, Android, and iOS.

Support for TorGuard is 24/7 and obtained via phone, live chat, online support articles, a community forum, FAQs, and email.

On the Better Business Bureau listing for TorGuard, there is a non-accredited rating of "F" with four customer complaints. The complaints include unwarranted account cancellation, a bad static IP address, refund refusal, and nonresponse from support for help with non-working software.

Being one of only two services that were complained about to the Better Business Bureau, definitely consider using one of the higher-rated VPN services to avoid the same problems other users have had.

Millions of credit cards can be exposed online at any given moment as people purchase things from popular ecommerce sites. If the ecommerce site you're buying from doesn't bother to encrypt that information, a hacker can "sniff" that information right out of your connection with the website. Anything you type into a vendor's website form becomes fair game for identity fraudsters and thieves.

Furthermore, ISPs have been known to sell their user's information to marketers and advertisers. Or, they can use it to restrict (throttle) your bandwidth and block access to sites they don't want you to see.

Finally, a VPN is useful for people who live in countries where governments regularly censor information not flattering to the state, or that they deem to be harmful to their citizens. Protests, rallies, and citizen actions that get started online usually don't have a chance of being successful without some type of VPN service protecting the organizers from being spied on.

To choose a VPN service, you need to research their features and compare their costs, reputations, security, performance, and customer service. Some of the factors to use when researching VPN services include:

Features: Which VPN features set one service apart from all the others? Why is it important to have those features?

Cost: Are their free trials and/or money-back guarantees? Is there a way to save more in the long term by paying quarterly or annually, or even longer?

Reputation: How do current and former customers feel about their experience using a particular VPN solution? If they had a bad experience, how long had they been using the VPN?

Security: Are there redundancies and safety nets built into the system in case of failure? Are logs kept of your activities? Are there enough IP addresses and servers scattered throughout the world to more effectively hide every user's activity and location?

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